1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)-based network system, and, more particularly, to a UPnP-based network system including control points to control an operation of a UPnP device to perform the operation by a command of each of the control points, and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in home or offices, peripheral devices, such as scanners, multifunctional devices or printers, are connected to a host device through a local area network (LAN) so as to allow a plurality of users to share the peripheral devices.
Such a network environment, a Universal Plug and Play (hereinafter, referred to as UPnP) technology has come into the spotlight as a standard of a technology for mutually operating the devices. Many devices have already used the UPnP technology.
In the UPnP technology, for example, a UPnP device for supporting the UPnP operates according to a command message generated by a control point (hereinafter, referred to as CP) which acts as a host device through a network. The CP is indicative of the host device, such as a computer, a television set, a video cassette recorder (VCR), a refrigerator, a microwave oven or a washing machine.
The CP generates the command message using inherent information of the UPnP device, but the UPnP device operates only using the command message, without distinguishing the CP from other CPs. That is, it is impossible to determine which one of CPs generates and transmits the command message to perform a current operation.
Accordingly, when the UPnP device is a printer, the UPnP printer cannot display information as to whether the command message is output from a digital television set or a personal computer on a liquid crystal display (LCD) of the printer. Even when the command message is output from a neighboring house included in the same network, the UPnP printer operates without distinguishing the CP. This is because means for checking which CP outputs the current command message is not included in the UPnP printer.